How Do You Fix A Dangling Modifier?
If you are a writing student, your teacher may sometimes say you have a dangling modifier. This is a group of words that is in the wrong place and seems to modify or describe the wrong person or thing. The result can seem funny, but if it lowers your grade, it is no laughing matter. Here is how to fix the commonest type of dangling modifier. First identify the problem if your teacher hasn’t yet done it. An example is: Having barked all night, I decided to get rid of my dog. If you think about this sentence, it is funny. It actually says that “I,” the owner of the dog, barked all night! “Having barked all night” is a participial phrase. The problem exists because the phrase must come right before the noun or pronoun it refers to. “Having barked all night” looks like it is describing “I.” Fix the dangling participle by giving it the correct subject. You can put the subject right before the participle, like this: My dog having barked all night, I decided to get rid of him. “My dog” is the
